VIRAL: Netizens express sentiments on #TransportStrike

The online Filipino community are expressing their sentiments on the nationwide strikes held by transport groups to oppose the government’s jeepney modernization program.

The #TransportStrike topped the local Twitter trends list on Monday, October 16. It is the first of the planned two-day protest prompted by the Department of Transportation’s Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) Modernization Program launched last June. It will mandate the phaseout of PUVs 15 years or older.

This is already the third strike against the program, with the last two held in September and February this year.

According to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), around 180,000 jeepneys must be replaced with those powered by electrically-powered engines with solar panel roofs, all to ‘promote safer and more environmentally-friendly transport options’.

But the proposed jeepney phase out is ‘anti-poor,’ claims transport groups such as the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) and Stop and Go Coalition, saying that it would be financially impossible for drivers to pay for a brand new jeepney that would cost at least P1 million per unit.

Meanwhile, commuters experienced waiting for hours in the street, chasing already full PUVs and even walking distances just to reach their destination this morning.

Here are some of the netizens’ thoughts on #TransportStrike we’ve seen on Twitter: